In my last posting I write about the enormous effort that the French artist David put into the development of his compositions. I didn’t expect to encounter directly a similar example of the commitment of an artist to his work. Last night, however, I attended the opening of a new exhibition at the South Square Centre, which was a retrospective of the work of a local artist, Douglas Binder. He has been associated with the Centre since its foundation, but has made a far wider reputation for himself as a figurative painter. These days he is based at the Dean Clough Gallery in nearby Halifax. I have known about his work for a long time, but never before have I had the chance to appreciate it properly.
By chance I found myself standing next to the man who frames Doug’s work (and also my own) who recounted to me the number of versions of a motif that Doug might produce …. perhaps as many as thirty, before his feels that he has worked out the idea. Several of the particular ideas on show last night were offered in four differing versions, so that it was possible to see the variety and diversity of his responses to the original stimulus. I was overawed by the level of commitment that this regime requires. At a more general level, Doug has worked for decades at his original vision of the artistic potential of the human figure.
I discovered today that he intends to give a talk in the South Square Centre, about his work, tomorrow afternoon, and I will certainly be there.